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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28247127">I'm Staying With You</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spookitsune/pseuds/Spookitsune'>Spookitsune</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Adastra (Visual Novel)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Amicus' POV, Comfort, Death, Furry, Guilt, Hurt, Love, M/M, Marco Comforts Amicus, Nightmares, One Shot</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 18:26:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,957</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28247127</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spookitsune/pseuds/Spookitsune</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Around one week after Amicus defeated Cato and ascended to the throne as Emperor, he wakes up in the middle of the night on Adastra after a nightmare about the duel and seeing his lover, Marco, die in his arms. Even after he is resurrected, Amicus is still wrought with guilt and leaves the palace to clear his thoughts, ending up in the same ampitheater where everything took place.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Amicus/Marco</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>25</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>I'm Staying With You</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Adastra:  I’m Staying with You</p><p>By Spookitsune</p><p>What went wrong..?</p><p>…</p><p>What could have possibly caused this to happen..?</p><p>…</p><p>I didn’t have an answer for that, I wasn’t really thinking straight at all after what had just happened. As I thought I was about to be struck down permanently by Cato after challenging him for the throne... My human, Marco, buried the ritual knife, originally meant to execute Neferu the condescending Khemian, into Cato’s back, then swiftly bringing it down upon his neck in quick succession. It was all so fast. I watched slightly dazed as in an instant Cato spun around furiously and grabbed Marco by his wrist, wrestling the dagger away from the smaller individual’s grip and in a flash… he drew the blade across his neck. And I saw the crimson red blood spray from his neck. My mind went blank...</p><p>…</p><p>...</p><p>...He hurt Marco...</p><p>...He hurt my human...</p><p>...he hurt my lover!</p><p>I saw nothing but red, blinded by fury. I sprung from my spot on the ampitheater floor and lunged at Cato from behind. Wrapping my arms around his bleeding neck and slammed him to the ground, I took one look at the monster who attacked my loved one, and ended him. Burying my teeth into the veins in his neck.</p><p>Cato didn’t struggle anymore, didn’t fight back at all and fell limp on the ground. He was finally gone… But I didn’t have a moment to celebrate as I looked over in desperation and saw the jackal with my human’s head in his lap, and an ever-growing pool of blood next to them. I bounded over in a frenzy, seeing the damage that had been done. The right side of Marco’s neck had been almost completely slashed through, blood flowed from the large tear in his throat as bubbles also surfaced as Marco struggled to breath. I saw his eyes were closed, but I didn’t want to believe it. “M-Marco!” I couldn’t help but bark in distress.</p><p> Thankfully, Neferu shifted away to allow me to hold Marco as I cupped the human’s head with my paw and pulled him close, shaking his form in hopes of jump-starting some life in his body. And to my relief, he opened his eyes. Marco glanced up at me, his eyes hazy and glistened as his gaze connected with mine, the most baffling part of his situation was how he smiled at me weakly despite what had just occurred. Why was he smiling? Was he trying to be strong for me?</p><p>“No, no, no, no, no, please! Virginia, tell Alex to go get Felix!” I commanded in desperation, seeing out of the corner of my vision Virginia standing up and walking off in a hurry, but I didn’t break my eye contact with Marco. My vision blurred as what I was seeing finally set in, tears ran down my face in pure sorrow and grief; once my human saw this, he reached his hand up to try and wipe them away like the many times I wiped his tears away when he was upset. I grabbed his hand though and quickly pressed it back to the large wound inflicted upon him in an attempt to halt the bleeding, he was the one dying and he’s trying to comfort me? How can he be this selfless?</p><p>“You’ll be fine! You’re going to be fine! It’s not bad… It’s not bad...” I knew that was a lie however. I didn’t want Marco to feel scared upon seeing me in such a state of despair; but I was also clinging to that statement myself, trying to convince that the man I had fallen in love with wasn’t bleeding out in my arms and could still be saved.</p><p>“Hey! Hey, stay here okay? You’ll stay with me, yeah?” I asked of him, not wanting to come to terms with the fact that I was going to lose him for a second time, this time permanently. I then noticed Marco nodding in response with a hazy look on his face, almost like his mind wasn’t fully together as he only focused on me. But seeing more bubbles of air and blood spurt from his neck wound sent me into another panic as he opened his mouth in order to try and communicate with me, only managing a few gurgled splutters.</p><p>“No, no! You don’t need to talk. I have you.” I spoke softly, comforting my human and shushing him from trying to speak and potentially causing more blood to escape his system faster. I couldn’t help but cry further, nothing else mattered in the world at this very moment, only him. I just wanted to help him.. to save him. But I was brought back to reality as I felt the human touch my furred face with his smooth hand, I felt like scolding him saying how I should be the one consoling him, but I just pressed my face closer to him, tears streaming down matting my fur as I still refused to accept the harsh truth. “Stop that, you’re going to be fine. Felix will heal you, we’ll rest in my room. I’ll take you to the island… I’ll take you to the city… We’ll be happy… We’ll grow old...together.” I choked on my words. I could barely say a word without my voice breaking. I just wanted to feel happiness with him one last time, I wanted Marco to know that I loved him with all my heart. Even if it was just wishful thinking, I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him.</p><p>I continued to let the tears keep flowing like waterfalls down my face, hearing them as they dripped off my cheeks and onto the smooth pavement of the ampitheater. Marco smiled weakly at me one last time, I could see tears welling up in his eyes as well as he listened to me… Then, they rolled back as his eyelids closed permanently. I heard him breathe out one last time. No… He can’t be gone… Not yet…..</p><p>But no matter how hard I shook my lover’s frail body, he didn’t stir. Didn’t breathe. Didn’t smile. Didn’t cry.</p><p>“Marco! No, please! Don’t leave me here! Please come back to me! You can’t leave me to be alone like this!” I yelled, fuelled by desperation to keep my lover alive.</p><p>“No, no, no… Speak to me.” I pleaded as I sobbed aloud.</p><p>…</p><p>…</p><p>…</p><p>“….You....” I heard in the back of my mind. That voice was like a sword piercing through my head. Almost instantly, the entire ampitheater fell into complete darkness. The pinkish-red sunset vanished, the marble floor of the ampitheater turned a dreary grey, Neferu who had been watching us in shock from a few feet away faded from my vision entirely, and the body of Marco who had lost his spark of life had somehow disappeared completely from my grip.</p><p>“Wh- huh?… Marco!! Neferu!! Where are you!? What is this!?” I howled into the abyss, my heightened despair caused me to act in an irrational manner.</p><p>My confusion was quickly answered by an entity behind me. Their presence very familiar, but sounded much different. “Yooouuuu…. It is all your fault...” I froze, quickly recognising the owner of the hoarse, demoralising voice. But I dared not turn around. “...I was so happy on Earth. I could have lived my life a carefree student… But you stole me away from that life. You are responsible for everything that happened to me… Murderer.” That word. That one singular word was a dagger to my heart and soul. “Look at me. Look at what you have reduced me to.”</p><p>I felt my head turn involuntarily, almost like I’m not in control of my own movements. Despite wanting to block it from my mind, I saw that horrific image. Marco stood behind me, but they didn’t look like my Marco. His neck was slit with blood trickling down his skin and staining his robe a deep crimson, his arms and legs were covered in scabs and vile-looking bumps from when he was infected with avia pox just a few days prior but the scariest feature were his eyes. I didn’t want to make eye contact, but my body complied like a puppet. His eyes were dead, devoid of any tenderness or love that used to shine in them. The only emotion I could see... was pure malice.</p><p>“You killed me…I hate you so much….. Murderer wolf….. AMICUS!!!”</p><p>“GAAAAHH!” I yelped, the voice screeching and causing me to jump in pure fright. However what I saw next briefly confused me. I was in my room, or rather me and Marco’s room considering we sleep here together, and on top of my comfortable bed. I was breathing heavily, I could feel my heartbeat pounding in my ears as a bead of sweat dripped down the side of my temple. “It was… all another dream...” I huffed, realising my situation.</p><p>Of course, now I remember everything. It had been around a week since I had won against Cato in the fight for the throne. I had become the rightful emperor and… I paused as I recalled my memories, and glanced over to my left worriedly. There I saw him, Marco sound asleep as peaceful as can be. The Parents granted him a new life. However, this meant I had to pledge myself to their ‘benevolent will’ which I am sceptical in believing in now, but they managed to bring him back to me; with only a large scar running across from the center of his throat to the very right of where Cato slashed him as a reminder.</p><p>I sighed deeply, my mind flashed back to that demonic vision of my human, the inhuman glare in his eyes sent another shiver up my spine. Those eerie words I just heard clung to my mind however… ‘You killed me.’, ‘Murderer Wolf.’ and that way he screamed my name… I knew at this point I wasn’t going to be able to fall back asleep, especially since I didn’t want to experience a second nightmare in the course of a single night. I cautiously pushed myself off the side of the bed, taking care not to disturb my romantic partner, who was still curled up on his side of the large mattress with his head resting on one of the massive pillows. The last thing I wanted right now was to arouse him from his calm slumber. Thankfully the human didn’t stir as I grabbed a pair of my blue pants and pulled them up and over my loincloth, quickly fastening them around my waist as I approached the door and pressed the small black square in the centre, the exit sliding open speedily without a sound. I briefly glanced back at Marco, feeling a bit apprehensive of leaving him alone, but then stepped through and the door promptly shut behind me once I was fully in the hallway.</p><p>My body seemed to move on it own as it sauntered down the marble corridor without any destination or goal in mind. The only sound that even graced my ears was the dull thumping of my own feet as they collided with the smooth floor. Everything in the palace felt so bleak at night, the lights were dim, there wasn’t a drone in sight and not another living creature in the vicinity. I already knew how much Neferu valued his beauty sleep and doubted he would wake up in the middle of the night for anything, but Virginia on the other hand was an entirely different story. I was well aware of the female wolf’s habit of waking up at ungodly hours just to get some extra work done as my advisor; and if she saw me then I’d definitely get an earful of her chastising comments on how an emperor should not be wandering the halls at the second hour. However I was lucky enough to not run into my attentive older sister at all as I reached the garden outside where the pavement was illuminated by the small orb-shaped lamps. My hunched form continued to shamble down the stone path, I just let my body behave on it’s own without any input from my mind as I couldn’t exactly think clearly as my thoughts swam through my brain like fish in a bowl. But then my daydreaming was interrupted as I snapped back to reality, realising just where my puppet-like body had brought me. The ampitheater.</p><p>“Hmmfff… Why did I come here?” I questioned myself in slight frustration as my padded feet trotted down the steps, bringing me to the center of the wide open space surrounded by the many stone platforms and staircases. It had been a full week since the events at the ampitheater but it felt like only yesterday. Barely any trace of what occured was left at this point: Cato’s body was transferred to the morgue in Adastra City, the ritual dagger was collected and stored away by the cleaner drones and any trace of the massive pool of blood that erupted from Marco’s wound was completely washed away. But I remembered exactly where it happened. As I stood at the heart of the arena, I stared at the spot where I held my human as the life drained from his eyes. The memories all came flooding back, including the undead version of my lover that plagued my dreams. A strange feeling washed over me, almost like my legs were hit with a Nervo as I felt them give out as I collapsed to the ground, my tail hung low and my ears flattened as I could not stop the emotional turmoil.</p><p>“M-Marco… I’m sorry. For everything I did to you..!” I wailed as tears overflowed from my eyes and ran down my cheeks. “I’m an awful, awful wolf! I brought you to Adastra for my own selfish needs of a pet… And look what happened! What kind of emperor puts the one he loves in harm’s way, all for his chance to gain power over his brother!?” I cried out, not caring if I woke up everyone in the entire palace. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I don’t deserve to have you back...” I choked.</p><p>…</p><p>“..Amicus?” I then heard a distressed voice call out from behind me. My ears perked up at the sound, my body slowly turning as the fur on my face was soaked with my own sorrows and there I saw a small, thin figure standing a top one of the staircases and casting a shadow down towards me. I looked at their face, realising it was my human staring down at me. For a moment, I saw that version of him again. That spiteful, bloodied Marco and his malicious stare cut through me.</p><p>“No, no, no, no, please…” I quietly pleaded, convinced that it was another hallucination similar to when the human was in a supposed permanent coma due to avia pox as I spun around and sat on my backside, pushing myself back further whilst holding the sides of my head in fear. I didn’t want to look him in the eye again, especially after remembering what I had put him through and the damage that had been caused; evidenced by the long, gruesome scar that ran along his neck.</p><p>The detestation I supposedly saw in the human’s eyes were then completely overtaken by that over-familiar look of concern and worry that he often displayed during times of stress. “A-Amicus! Hey, don’t worry I’m here!” He exclaimed as he hurried down the steps and approached me. I could only push myself back so far however as I then made contact with one of the seated platforms that lined the edges of the ampitheater. Marco slowed his pace until he was a few feet away from me and knelt down to be at my eye-level. “What the hell were you thinking, leaving the room in the middle of the night? I was worried about you.” He scolded me, almost like I was a pup.</p><p>I still couldn’t look Marco in the face however as I instead kept my eyes focused on the ground that separated us instead, quickly rubbing my forearm across my eyes and cheeks to conceal the fact that I was crying, which in turn only made my boyfriend more anxious. “Yeah, yeah. I’m sorry. I just, I just needed a moment to think about things...” I replied as I continued to stare down at the ground. “Why don’t you head back to the bedroom? I just needed a bit of fresh air is all.”</p><p>Out of the corner of my eye I could see the corner of Marco’s lips curl downward into a frown, of course he would pick up on an obvious lie like that. “Amicus, look at me.” He spoke up with a slight commanding tone in his voice. I flinched for a moment, remembering what I heard in my dreams as I nervously lifted my head up and my gaze met with the concerned expression on my human’s face. For only a brief moment, I could feel my fears fade away as I basked in familiarity as I felt more tears trickle down my matted grey fur, unable to stop them from pouring over my eyelids. “It’s something about me isn’t it?” He questioned with a sorrowful look in his eyes. “Remember what you promised me, how you would talk with me about any matters concerning the two of us? Please, tell me what’s wrong.” Marco spoke softly as he placed his hand on my arm which caused a brief twitch through my tail as it threatened to start wagging upon contact with my beloved. He always seemed to know how to calm me down in any situation, I loved that about him.</p><p>“I-I don’t want to make you worry. Besides you should be asleep right now.” I responded as my brows furrowed and I puffed out my chest a bit, trying to use my serious emperor facade to intimidate him into listening to me. But I wasn’t fooling him at all as Marco shot back his own piercing gaze as he tilted his head down slightly whilst keeping his line of sight on me, his sharp eyes sending a brief shiver up my spine as I sunk back further into the side of the hard stone platform as my bushy tail tucked itself into my side.</p><p>“If anyone here should be sleeping it’s you. Remember you have to meet with the Triumvirates early tomorrow to discuss the distribution of their newly acquired funds.” He reminded me; considering he didn’t have too much to keep himself occupied other than cleaning up the overlooked weeds in the garden and studying up on Adastra’s history, Marco also started to make a habit of reminding me of my itinerary for each day like some sort of walking alarm clock, much to my sisterly advisor’s amusement. I merely looked away in slight shame as I was reminded once again of my emperor duties that were being sabotaged by my own dumb night terrors. And after waiting a few seconds in silence, my partner merely just sighed. “If you don’t want to talk about it right now it’s fine. But I’m not going back to the room without you. I’ll just, be right here. Feel free to let me know when you’re ready.” He told me as he shifted away from his knelt position in front of me and crawled over to my left and sat himself down next to me, crossing his legs and setting his hands in his lap as he stared up at the sky.</p><p>I’m not entirely sure how long we sat there in silence. I want to guess around ten or fifteen minutes as we meditated silently in the ampitheater, both lost in our own thoughts as I attempted to sort through mine like some sort of labyrinth, desperate to find a way to explain everything without sounding paranoid, even if the flashes of the dream Marco caused me to tense up every time he crossed my mind. I at least knew we had been there long enough for the human to start feeling drowsy as he ended up slumping against my arm and I could see his eyes fluttering a bit as he started to doze off, breathing calmly. Seeing Marco like this reminded me of how close the two of us had gotten, but I also felt a twinge of guilt at the human’s decision to stay up in the empty arena with me.</p><p>So with a heavy heart I eventually grabbed hold of his attention by clearing my throat. “Ahem… I think I’m ready enough to tell you what’s been going on, with me that is.” I sheepishly admitted, my human raising his head to look up at me with another concerned expression as he slowly brought his small, furless hand up and held onto my bicep in a caring manner as I took a deep breath. “So uhh… ummm… uhh..” I mentally kick myself for taking such a long time to get my words out after I just stated I was ready to talk. I’ve performed many speeches for the people of Adastra before so finding myself a stammering mess in front of my human was a tad bit embarrassing.</p><p>I then calmed myself as Marco lightly stroked the fur on my arm, and I began to speak. “I’ve been having… nightmares for the past few days. It’s always been the same one. It’s always that cursed day linked to this arena from about a week ago; when you shook me from my slumber in the dungeon and told me I had to challenge Cato. Everything plays out the same as it did, almost like I was watching a film instead of partaking in a dream.”</p><p>“Heh, most likely better quality than the movies you wolves make here.” I heard Marco mutter under his breath which I couldn’t help but lightly chuckle at. He was never a fan of our form of media. Despite his joking tone though, the way my partner’s grip tightened slightly at the mention of Cato reminded me of how this was a touchy subject for him as well. But he encouraged me to keep going.</p><p>“I was on the ground in the middle of the duel with Cato pinning me and attempting to tear my throat out. I remember thinking to myself how I had failed saving the empire from him, saving you… For a moment, I really believed I wasn’t worthy of the throne as the other wolf said, that I was just a silly pup who never grew up, a mistake on my father’s part for spoiling me. I don’t want to admit it but at some point I had already accepted defeat. But then, you saved me. That courageous stunt of yours by attacking with the dagger returned my confidence for just a brief moment and managed to get Cato off me. But then, He-….. He slit your throat.” I hesitated when I said that last part and glanced down at the tiny human and saw him bring a hand up to his neck, wincing as if remembering the pain as he lightly caressed the scar that ran along his throat with his fingers. What was I doing? Marco is equally if not more shaken up about the events that transpired in this ampitheater than I am. For crying out loud, he died as a result! “No! No, I can’t do this to you. It’s wrong of me to unload my troubles on you regarding the duel when you’re in so much more pain!”</p><p>“Huh? No, Amicus!” Marco quickly responded in shock as he diverted his attention back to me with wide eyes, I could see tears starting to flood his pupils as he hugged onto my arm again, pushing his face into my fur. “Please... I know it may be hard for us both, but I want you to talk with me about everything. I want to be there for you, cause I want to be with you. No matter what pulls us away.”</p><p>I stare down at Marco, feeling a slightly damp sensation on my fluff as realised he was crying himself. But he kept himself strong for me, and I did the same by pushing back my own tears and taking a deep breath in order to calm myself as I proceeded. “After seeing you so gravely injured, I attacked the old mutt. I had only one goal on my mind, and that was vengeance as grabbed a hold of him and threw him away from you, then ending him as swiftly as I could. Like last time, I bolted over and cradled you in my arms. Begging for you to stay with me and trying to convince myself that we could fix you. Part of me knew that was impossible though. But... You just kept smiling up at me, despite the pain you must have gone through, the suffering you endured, you kept smiling at me and was even trying to wipe away my tears.” I chuckled as I reminisced on the human’s caring gestures and only now figuring out that was his own way of communicating his feelings with me at the time. “I felt happy to just hold you in my arms… I didn’t want to let you go. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. But I wasn’t strong enough to keep you with me. And you were gone...” I then stated, giving a small moment of reprieve for my mind to catch up and sort through my thoughts and to give my significant other the chance to process everything. Talking with someone about the details of their own death is quite burdensome all things considered. Looking down, I see Marco has calmed down somewhat and still has his face resting against my wolven form as he slid his hands down from my arm and held both sides of my paw, judging by his calm demeanour I deemed it safe enough to continue on to the last part of my recounting of the dreams that invaded my mind each night. Even if this part was the most painful for me.</p><p>“The last part is when things start to get a bit confusing. For the first few nights I had this dream, it ended as I was carrying you to the archive, hooking both of us to it in an attempt to beg The Parents to bring you back. Other times it ended right there in the center of this arena.” I admitted as I gestured to the middle of the circular space with my free paw. Though what I said next did alert Marco to the uncontrollable shakiness in my speech. “B-but this n-night… After I held you in my arms, everything went dark: the sunlight was blotted out, Neferu and Virginia were gone and y-you… you… were behind me, bleeding from your neck a-and covered in avia pox… and, you told me how you hated me for what I did to you, for tearing you away from your life on Earth. C-calling me M-murderer Wolf...” I couldn’t hold it in any more, all the despair I had bottled up as I recalled my haunting nightmare pushed me over the edge as my voice broke and tears overflowed from my eyes once again.</p><p>This time though, I had comfort in the form of Marco as a gripped my large paw with his much smaller hands, he shifted around to face me properly and lifted his hand to my face, wiping away my tears with his thumb as he cupped my cheek with his palm. I got a snicker out of this because as usual my partner was being his over considerate self, but I didn’t mind it at all this time around as I leaned my upper torso forward and pulled him in close, embracing my human tightly as I felt his heartbeat against my chest and held the side of his head close to mine as tears continued to race down my muzzle. “Marco… I-...I’m so sorry. For everything I did to you. Abducting you, using the Nervo on you, tying you up, getting you sick and causing your death. I can’t take any of my mistakes back and you have every right to hate me for what I’ve done...” I wept, my entire psyche immediately felt lighter as I spoke those words despite my lingering feelings of guilt. Even if he were to reveal his contempt for me and my actions, it still felt nice to be completely honest about my darker feelings I often kept to myself.</p><p>The small, thin human who throughout my explanation and breakdown kept silent finally spoke up, I didn’t see his expression but I could tell by the rattle in his voice he was crying as well, but the tone he had was surprisingly light-hearted. “My dream self told you I hated you? Heh, I thought you knew me by now, my wolf.” Marco lightly pushed at my shoulder to communicate me to ease up on the cuddle and I complied, relaxing my grip on him as he pulled back enough that I can see his beautiful face, now wet with new tears as his eyes gleamed with that familiar infatuation. “Amicus, I wouldn’t give up any of my memories of Adastra, not a single one. Especially not my memories of you.” He told me reassuringly. “Being taken away from Earth may have been scary at first; I had no clue what was going to happen with me, I didn’t know if I could survive on this planet, and I didn’t know if I could even trust you at first. But during my time here, I grew to adore this world, and you as well. While some events may be painful for us both to remember, that’s part of life and I was glad I always had you at my side, even in my death I was so happy to see you one last time, to feel your warmth... Amicus, I love you with all my heart. You saved me so many times and always acted with what you think is best for me. I’ve never met someone so caring in my life and I don’t blame or hate you for anything. Thank you for bringing me to Adastra, and for loving me.”</p><p>Marco’s encouraging speech to me inadvertently brought on more tears from my eyes, most likely large and red at this point from how many times I’ve cried tonight, but these were tears of pure joy instead of sadness as my overpowering feelings of paranoia and anxiety were quelled, replaced by the ever-growing feeling of happiness and love as my tail now thumped wildly against the stone floor. Marco could probably see it wagging to and fro behind me and in response flashed a wide smile, leaning in as he quickly kissed the tip of my large black nose. “I’m here. And I’m staying with you.” He reassured.</p><p>My ears perked up at this statement and I could feel a light blush on my face from the human’s loving gesture as this time I moved close instead and pressed my muzzle against his lips as we engaged in a passionate kiss. Despite having done this many times since our awkward smooch out on the island, I still felt a rush of ecstasy almost like this is our very first time as our lips interlocked and we pushed against each other until we both found a rhythm with one another; losing ourselves in the warm devotion we shared, not wanting to separate from one another as we took each other’s sign of loyalty in.</p><p>Soon then after a full minute we mutually agree to break apart, both of us breathing a bit heavily as we waited to catch our breath before any further action. But as I looked down at my small sweetheart, I spoke up again. “I love you Marco, thank you for being here for me. But now, I’m only realising how tired I am.” I shamelessly admitted as I stretched out my arms and a large yawn escaped my maw as my tongue lolled out of the side of my mouth.</p><p>“Well that’s understandable. I better not catch you slipping out of bed again, if Virginia catches you dozing off during a meeting you’ll never hear the end of it.” Marco teased as I merely huffed in response as the human male pushed himself onto his feet, then reaching his hand out which I immediately took as I rose to my feet. Despite being able to stand up with no trouble, I only noticed just how exhausted I was as I took a few steps towards the set of stairs that led to the garden, my eyelids hung low and my arms and legs felt sluggish. Without really thinking I instinctively leaned my body against Marco’s as I lazily put my arm around his shoulder so he could support me. My human grunted at first as he didn’t seem to expect me to practically throw my upper body weight on him but he merely brushed it off with a grumble. “You dumb wolf, if you fall asleep on top of me then we’ll never make it back.” He lightly joked as he supported me best he could as we continued on up the steps and through the garden.</p><p>Thankfully we were able to get back to our bedroom without me falling into deep slumber whilst standing up and crushing Marco under my body and thankfully didn’t even get caught by a prowling Virginia in the hallways either. As Marco tapped the black square on the door, it parted without a sound and we stepped inside to find the room was exactly the same as I had left it, though I could still kind of see the imprint Marco’s body made in the sheets from when he was sound asleep. After I sluggishly pulled off the blue pants around my waist and my human pulled his white and red robe over his head, I practically threw myself back and felt my back hit the mattress with a dull thud. I briefly closed my eyes with relief as I whispered to myself how thankful I was that I was granted one of the best beds in the entire palace as I felt the sheets stretch as Marco climbed ontop, nestling himself next to me. I saw it as the perfect opportunity to roll over on my side and wrapped my arm around his torso, resting my chin on his head as I could feel his hand run up and down my rounded stomach.</p><p>All of my worries, doubts and fears had skyrocketed and then practically melted away in the course of only one night. While I woke up fearing that I was despised for my mistakes, I was able to find solace on the fact that I have my human lover here with me to offer his support and undying love. I’ve made mistakes in the past, but I’m forgiven for them and am loved for who I am, emperor or not. Those lessons were able to assure me that I would be able to sleep peacefully once again without any disturbance. But one thought did pass by my mind right before it was lulled to sleep by Marco’s soft, rhythmic belly rubbing.</p><p>I really need to propose to him someday…</p><p>END</p>
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